Wine Travel

Hello everyone! As a newcomer to the group, this is my very first post, inspired by the recent Instagram story about the summer travel series. I wanted to share my recent day trip to Chablis during a week-long boat holiday along the Canal du Nivernais and Yonne River.

Region: Chablis, Burgundy, France

Climate: Cool continental.

Grape Variety: 100% Chardonnay.

Notable Terroir: Kimmeridgian soil, famous for its limestone packed with tiny prehistoric oyster shells.

Appellations: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru, and Chablis Grand Cru.

Since we were cruising on Yonne river  just an hour away, we organized a private excursion into Chablis. Our first stop was the famous Vaillons Premier Cru hill to inspect the local soil up close. The ground there is scattered with white limestone packed with millions of tiny fossilized prehistoric oyster shells, which give the local Chardonnay its iconic, chalky minerality.

After taking in the views, we toured a producer's facility to see the winemaking process in action, moving through the pressing, storage, and packaging areas, down into the cellars filled with big old oak barrels (called foudre). We then headed into town for a second tasting at La Chablisienne, the region's famous cooperative.

Even though our boat crew is made up of passionate wine lovers, the trademark high acidity Chablis is famous for proved to be way too sharp for most of our palates. The lean, bone-dry younger wines were a tough sell, and the only ones the group genuinely enjoyed were some older Premier and Grand Crus where age and oak influence had smoothed out that crisp edge. It was a fun reality check on how intense cool-climate acidity can be in person!